Reddit reviews The Way to Will-Power

> I can temporarily be very disciplined and stick to my plan, but once the motivation wears off (give it a few weeks), i relapse into my old ways.

Motivation is not a source for long-lasting change. It's a quick rush, like sugar. What you want to develop are habits. Habits are hard-wired neural pathways that your brain chooses based on the path of least resistance. When you've performed an action over and over in the same environment, that behavior pattern creates grooves (metaphorically) in your brain, making it easier for you to do it next time.

What motivation/willpower does is give you the initial energy to overcome your existing grooves and to change that neural landscape in a way that suits you. If a river wanted to go a different course than how it usually does, it would have to summon the energy to lift itself out of the riverbed and rush out over open land. Over time, this would create a new riverbed, which will be very easy for the river to follow.

If you want to learn more about motivation and the science of habit formation, I recommend Henry Hazlitt's The Way to Will-Power (a little old-fashioned, written in the 1920s, but very useful) and Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit.

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

The Way to Will-Power

The Power of Habit

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